Immigration is often a divisive issue in Australian politics and this election is no different. Labor is yet to announce a detailed policy but says it wants to bring migration ‘under control’. The Coalition has recommitted to reducing net overseas migration claiming that will help Australia’s housing crisis. But experts say the problem is much more complicated, particularly in the outer suburbs of our major cities.
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00:01These locals moved to Melton to find an affordable house.
00:08They came and built a community.
00:11This event is marking the Muslim Festival of Eid.
00:16We invite people from different cultures, different ethnicities
00:21and we wanted them to know us and we want to know them.
00:25Sanya moved to Australia about four years ago
00:28and loves her multicultural neighbourhood in Melbourne's West.
00:33There's a reason her family chose to settle in this part of Australia.
00:38There were good schools here, property was affordable.
00:41That was the main thing.
00:43This area is one of the fastest growing in the country.
00:48I'm meeting the local labour-aligned mayor
00:51who says the road and rail system can't keep pace with the population.
00:56We've got a lot of new migrant groups
00:58that are coming into the city of Melton
01:00and they want connection to their community
01:02and they come out here for family.
01:04But we've got the issues around infrastructure,
01:06public transport not keeping up.
01:08The vast majority of permanent migrants
01:10who've come to Australia since 2000
01:12have moved to the capital cities.
01:14New arrivals figures from the last financial year
01:17show about 33% moved to Melbourne, about 32% to Sydney,
01:2214% to Perth and about 12% to Brisbane.
01:26The rest were split up amongst the other capitals
01:28and a small portion to regional areas.
01:31Let's be clear, housing is unaffordable in Australia
01:34but that is not the result of what we've been seeing
01:37in the migration numbers.
01:38A number of Australians wrote to ABC Your Say
01:41and said they thought immigration in Australia was too high.
01:45New data from ABC Vote Compass found 49% of the 330,000 respondents
01:52wanted somewhat or many fewer immigrants in Australia,
01:57about 30% wanted the same levels as now
02:00and just 16% wanted more.
02:02Now that's a shift from the 2022 Vote Compass results
02:06where about 49% wanted more.
02:09Meanwhile, a Lowy Institute poll conducted last year
02:14found about 48% of Australians thought immigration in Australia
02:18was too high and that it only shifted 1% from the same poll in 2019.
02:24Net overseas migration after plummeting during the pandemic
02:29surged really high for a couple of years after borders reopened.
02:34However, now we're seeing net overseas migration plummet again.
02:38Fairfield in Sydney's west has a long history of welcoming migrants
02:44and still sees one of the city's highest rates of new arrivals.
02:48But the independent mayor here says they can't cope anymore.
02:51We just feel that sometimes the government uses the western suburbs
02:56to populate this country but not necessarily puts back the infrastructure
03:01that is needed to maintain all of our quality of life.
03:04Fairfield's full.
03:06Frank Carbone says the solution is sustainable migration.
03:10But what do the experts think?
03:12Rather than the idea that certain areas face too much of the load of migration,
03:18it's more a failure of effective city planning.
03:20There's no magic number for the level of migrants in a society.
03:25It's really shaped by the norms and expectations of that society.
03:30Communities across the country feeling the pinch.
03:34Thanks for shifting.
03:35leftover